A Message from Dr. Villanueva: Universal Free Lunch Program to Start Oct. 21

Dear Eastchester Faculty, Families and Students,

 

I am happy to share that we will officially begin our Universal Free Lunch program tomorrow, Tuesday, October 21, 2025. Here are a few important notes:

 

1. EMS and EHS will serve breakfast beginning at 7:15AM. This is a friendly reminder that breakfast will not be served at the elementary schools at this time.

 

        a. See below for the EMS/EHS  breakfast menus for the week of October 20-24.

 

2.  All schools will serve lunch in the cafeteria and lunches will be prepared as a ‘full serve’ lunch tray/container. This means that all five components (dairy, grain, fruit, vegetable, protein) will be prepared on the tray and students will take the entire tray (hot lunch) or a prepared container (bagel, sandwich or salad options). It is their option to eat what they choose from the fully prepared tray or container. This full service lunch will ensure that each student receives all five components and in turn will satisfy the requirements for a free lunch.

 

        a. See below for the EHS lunch menus for the week of October 20-24.

 

 

        b. See below for the EMS lunch menus for October.

 

        c. See below for the elementary lunch menus for October.

 

3. Students will be able to purchase a la carte items and snacks separately. In addition, if students would like to purchase a second entree, they will be charged per item.

 

      a. Please remember that a la carte items and snacks can be paid through their MyPaymentsPlus.

 

4. Free and Reduced Lunch Applications

 

      a. I would like to thank all of our families who quickly completed and returned their F/RL applications last week. Please note, that ALL students, regardless of their eligibility, are invited to participate in the Universal Free Lunch Program. Families who are eligible for further F/RL benefits will be contacted directly by the Business Office by the end of this week.

 

Remember, our menus are always accessible on our Food Services page.

 

We are proud that we are able to participate in the Universal Free Lunch program this academic year and would like to thank Aramark and our Food Service Director, Ms. Laura Cilento and our Business department for all of their work in moving this forward in such a short period of time. Our cafeteria team and school administrators have worked diligently to ensure that our cafeterias are ready to go for a seamless start to the program. 

 

Lastly, we thank you in advance for your support. We anticipate the first few days will take some getting used to as we get into the new lunch routine, but as each day goes by, we are certain students and faculty will get into a welcome rhythm.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Alison Villanueva, Superintendent of Schools

Ms. Linda Carlin, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Facilities

Mr. Robert Jacoby, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Technology  

Ms. Laura Cilento, Food Services Director